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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><font face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">WHAT: December DORKBOT: Innovation in Games</span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><font face="Times New Roman">WHEN: Wednesday, <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Dec. 6, 2006<b>, </b></span>7:30 PM (7:00 for a bit of socializing!)
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><font face="Times New Roman">WHERE: Center for Contemporary Arts (CoCA), 410 Dexter Ave N, Seattle</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><font face="Times New Roman">ADMISSION: Free, all ages and species, but support CoCA by buying drinks at their lovely bar!
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><font face="Times New Roman">Greetings, Dorks! On Wednesday, December 6th at 7:30 PM at the Center of Contemporary Art
(CoCA), we will have three fabulous presentations about innovation in games!</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><font face="Times New Roman"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Jordan Weisman</span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">
and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Elan Lee</b> from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">42 Entertainment</i> will discuss their innovative approach to immersive, participatory entertainment, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">
<span style="COLOR: black">James Gwertzman</span></b><span style="COLOR: black"> from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">PopCap Games Inc.</i> will share techniques for creating casual games, and </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">
Ruth Fruland,</b> the Regional Coordinator for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Games for Change</i> will provide an overview of using games and game concepts for </span><span lang="EN" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; mso-ansi-language: EN">
social change.</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black"></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><font face="Times New Roman">Doors will be open at 7:00 if you want to show up early, have a drink at CoCA's bar, and chat with your fellow dorks!
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>If you would like to take the mic for a few moments at "open dork" after the presentations let me know. </font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><font face="Times New Roman">Please find more information about our presenters below; </font><a href="http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotsea">
<font face="Times New Roman">http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotsea</font></a><font face="Times New Roman"> will also have full information about the talks shortly. Please send any questions or comments to me, Shelly, your Dork Overlord, at
</font><a href="mailto:shellyhivemind@gmail.com"><font face="Times New Roman">shellyhivemind@gmail.com</font></a><font face="Times New Roman">. </font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><font face="Times New Roman">Looking forward to seeing you all on the 6th! Special thanks to CoCA (<a href="http://www.cocaseattle.org">
http://www.cocaseattle.org</a>) for providing a venue! </font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><font face="Times New Roman">More about the presenters: </font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><font face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Jordan Weisman</span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">, 42 Entertainment, CEO (
</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><a href="http://42entertainment.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800080">http://42entertainment.com</font></a>)<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"></span></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><font face="Times New Roman">A creative visionary in the entertainment and media world for the past 25 years,
Jordan is responsible for driving 42's overall creative vision and steering conceptual development on behalf of 42's clients and partners. In this role, Jordan provides hands-on direction to all 42's creative teams. </font>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><font face="Times New Roman">The creative motivating force behind the founding and success of a number of companies, Jordan launched his career in 1980 when he co-founded FASA Corp., and led the design and creation of game lines such as BattleTech, Shadowrun, and Crimson Skies. In 1987, Jordan and his partners founded VWE, and built the world's first virtual reality entertainment venue, The BattleTech Center. In 1992, members of the Disney family acquired a majority stake in VWE.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>In 1995 Jordan founded FASA Interactive to develop MechWarrior, a PC game that ultimately sold more than 11 million units. Microsoft acquired FASA Interactive in 1999 and Jordan assumed the role of Creative Director of Microsoft's Entertainment Division.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>In 2000, Jordan and Dawne Weisman founded WizKids, creating collectable miniatures games such as Mage Knight, Marvel HeroClix, and MechWarrior: Dark Age. Retail sales for WizKids products topped $100 million in 2002. In 2003,
Jordan sold WizKids to The Topps Company. </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><font face="Times New Roman">Jordan has won over one hundred awards during his career, including election to the game designer's hall of fame by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design, and selection as Pacific Northwest Entrepreneur of the Year for 2003 by Ernst & Young.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><font face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Elan Lee</span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">, 42 Entertainment, Vice President, Experience Design (
</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><a href="http://42entertainment.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800080">http://42entertainment.com</font></a>)<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"></span></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><font face="Times New Roman">Elan has pioneered numerous breakthroughs in the area of entertainment and immersive gaming in his career. At 42, he is responsible for crafting the audience experience on innovative new projects, and also plays a key role in the creation of the company's content-driven platforms.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Elan started his career as a character designer at Industrial Light and Magic, where he worked on several motion pictures. In 1998 he became lead game designer at Microsoft Game Studios, designing and directing games for the PC and Xbox. Elan has served as Director and Lead Designer on numerous projects including Steven Spielberg's AI experience, "The Beast", and "ilovebees".
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><font face="Times New Roman">Elan's work has been featured in numerous publications around the world. As a pioneer in the field of immersive gaming, and interactive experiences, Elan is a frequent speaker at forums including the Game Developer's Conference, The Alternative Gaming Forum, and Intel Research Laboratories.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><font face="Times New Roman"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black">James Gwertzman</span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black">
, Director of Business Development, PopCap Games, Inc. (<a href="http://www.popcap.com/"><span style="COLOR: black">http://www.popcap.com</span></a>)<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"></span></span></font></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black"><font face="Times New Roman">You should be making casual games!</font></span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black"><font face="Times New Roman">The casual game industry has erupted out of nowhere in the past few years to become a major piece of the overall game industry, with revenues projected to top $1B by 2008. Small, addictive, fun, and aggressively mass-market, casual games are not only good business but they're also incredibly fun to produce. Who wants to spend years being part of a 100+ person team building a giant "blockbuster" game that will cost so much to build that its publisher is unwilling to take any creative risks, when you could be producing the equivalent of an "art house" film – a small, tight, creative game that will live and die in the market entirely by the merits of its actual game-play? And quite literally do so at home in the garage, with a very real chance at being successful?
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<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black"><font face="Times New Roman">Come to this talk to learn more about casual games, and also to get an overview of tools & resources available to you for free to help get you started creating the next great gaming masterpiece at home in your free time. James Gwertzman is the Director of Business Development for PopCap games, one of the leading casual game developers and publishers, but he's also got first-hand experience as an "indie" developer in this space, having co-founded Sprout Games (a small and successful casual game developer) prior to its acquisition by PopCap. As part of this talk James will also share some of the techniques that PopCap uses in developing its own best-selling casual games such as Bejeweled or Zuma.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><font face="Times New Roman"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Ruth Fruland</span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">
, Ph.D., Research Associate, Human Interface Technology Lab (HITL), and Regional Coordinator, Games for Change </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><font face="Times New Roman">Ruth Fruland is the Northwest Coordinator of the national Games for Change organization, a subset of the Serious Games movement, and for several years have been spearheading a group called GaSworks, which is an informal group of people who share an interest in Games and Simulations in Education in the
Puget Sound area. Her presentation will include some of the games and game concepts that people in this group have developed, in addition to what else is out there, or is on the horizon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>
Check out the Games for Change and Serious Games websites at: </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><a href="http://www.gamesforchange.org/"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#800080">http://www.gamesforchange.org</font>
</a><font face="Times New Roman">/ and </font><a href="http://www.seriousgames.org/index2.html"><font face="Times New Roman">http://www.seriousgames.org/index2.html</font></a></span></p>
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